Opposition has no right to claim PAC membership: Fawad

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry says that opposition has no right to claim chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Speaking to media, he said the decision to that effect would be taken with consultation in the party after the arrival of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was currently on an official visit to the United States in connection with the United Nations General Assembly session.

He said after the by-elections in October, the position of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) would further strengthen in the assemblies.

Talking to media persons to provide details of a party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on the by-elections, he said the PTI would participate in the by-polls with full preparations and would emerge victorious from all the constituencies. “The meeting was in fact an introductory interaction of the by-election candidates with the prime minister,” he added.

The minister said the by-elections would be held in a free, fair and transparent manner. No administrative changes were made in any of the constituencies up for by-polls, he added.

“We are not holding the elections in the way the same were held during the tenure of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). There will be no government interference,” he said.

Replying to a question, he said by-election candidates had been nominated keeping in view dynamics of the constituencies concerned.

To another question, Fawad said the government had devised a strategy to allow the PML-N to conduct audit of all the development projects, which were initiated by the PTI.

The minister the prime minister also chaired a meeting of Task Force on Tourism Development, during which issues relating to make Pakistan clean and green in general and mega city of Karachi in particular were discussed.

Chaudhry said the prime minister had directed the task force to frame a comprehensive policy to promote tourism in the country and identify new tourism spots. He also directed the provincial governments to prepare a detailed plan and remove all the hurdles in promotion of tourism, the minister added.